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Crohns Disease And The Sad Train

Chronic disease can be a horrible thing.

After a while it’s not even the disease itself that is the real problem. Give it enough time and enough negativity and your mind becomes the real inglorious bastard. “I am sick” becomes your default state of mind on both good days and bad days. Welcome to the world of chronic depression.

You see it in Crohn’s groups online every day. Everyone is sad, everyone is a victim, nothing is fair.

Every day someone posts a picture of a sad kitten with sad words written over the top. Hundreds of replies follow from people who are sad too. They’re not the “supportive” kind of replies though, they’re not “Get well soon Timmy! You’re doing really great! You’ll be fine!” style ripostes.

They’re the “me too” kind of replies. Everyone throws their hat into the ring of miserableness so as not to be left out.

Let’s all be sad together, there is plenty of space on the sad train!

It pisses me off just a little bit.

“Who is this fucking guy telling me not to be sad because I have Crohn’s?!”

To simply know that you have Crohn’s means you’re incredibly likely to be the 1%. You were born into or live in an affluent country and the word is quite literally at your feet. There are millions of people on the planet that don’t have first world medical facilities and have no idea what Crohn’s even is. They’ve got it, they’ve no idea what it is and they can’t get help.

Put down your soy latte and chew on that one for a little bit brothers and sisters.

I’ve been sad before. Super sad. Super sad and super sick. There is nothing wrong with being sad, be sad.

There is everything wrong with continuing to be sad. Day in and day out, you’ve no business being sad long term.

We’re all going to get flare ups. We’re all going to have really bad days. That’s just how it has to be, normal people have terrible days too.

Normal people feel like no one understands them. Normal people think no one understands what they are going through. Millions of folks wander around suffering from clinical depression, their mind is trying to screw them over every day. Bob from down the street has problems. Your neighbor has problems. Your teacher has problems. Your physician has problems too.

The absolute cry-fest that has developed around diseases like Crohn’s does nobody any good.

If I told you today was the last day you were going to get you sure as shit wouldn’t spend it moaning about the hand you were dealt.